Jonathan Kozol is well recognized for his nonfiction accounts of American public education. He is the author of numerous well-known works, including “Death at an Early Age,” “The Shame of the Nation,” “Savage Inequalities,” and “Fire in the Ashes.” He has painstakingly worked with students in numerous schools for about fifty years. His novels typically revolve around first-person stories of his experiences. His novels are eye-opening and provide insight into social issues such as segregated and inadequate schooling, illiteracy, and homelessness. His works are both potent and climactic, which has earned him a lot of major awards and recognition. He gave up his financially stable life and career, moved to a ‘Black’ area in the United States, and began teaching and working closely with numerous academic communities. Since then, he has devoted practically his entire life to ensuring that students of all races, colors, and socioeconomic backgrounds have equal chances in public schools. Currently, he is one of the most esteemed writers on education in the United States of America. In addition to his admirable efforts to create a more unified public education system, he is an ardent supporter of the school voucher movement.
Youth and Early Life
Jonathan Kozol was born into a regular middle-class Jewish family in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother was a social worker, but his father was a neurologist and psychiatrist.
In 1954, he graduated from Noble and Greenough School and then attended Harvard University to study English literature. He graduated from college four years later.
He was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, but he elected not to attend. Instead, he flew to Paris to study fiction and nonfiction writing with William Styron and Richard Wright.
Jonathan Kozol’s Career
After returning from Paris, he began tutoring students in Roxbury and joined the Boston Public Schools as a teacher.
Death at a Young Age: The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of African-American Children in Boston Public Schools was authored and published by him for the first time in 1967. It went on to gain him a great deal of popularity. He was even awarded for this contribution.
After being fired from the school for teaching a poem by Langston Hughes, he became heavily involved in the civil rights movement and decided to focus on producing more books.
He released ‘Free Schools’ and ‘The Night is Dark and I am Far Away’ between 1972 and 1975. In addition to depicting the inner workings of American culture at the time, these novels were written from first-hand experience.
He wrote ‘Prisoners of Silence: Breaking the Chains of Adult Illiteracy in the United States in 1980. Two years later, he wrote “Alternative Schools: A Guide for Teachers and Parents.”
In 1986, he released one of his most notable works, titled ‘Illiterate America,’ which examines the history of the American education system. After two years, he published Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America.
In 1991, he published “Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools.” This book also made the list of the year’s most popular nonfiction titles and earned an award the following year.
Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation was published in 1995. The following year, his work gained him significant praise once again.
In the year 2000, Kozol wrote ‘Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope,’ bringing him continued popularity. Five years later, he published “The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Education in the United States.”
In addition to being an impassioned opponent of discrimination in American schools, he is also a proponent of the school voucher movement. He released “Letters to a Young Teacher” in 2007.
2012 saw the publication of his most recent book, “Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America.”
Kozol’s Major Opera
Death at a Young Age, his debut book, was released in 1967. The novel achieved widespread acclaim and was awarded the US National Book Award. Additionally, it sold more than two million copies.
Published in 2005, ‘The Shame of the Nation’ is regarded as one of his major works due to the extensive research and planning that went into its creation. While writing the book, he visited over sixty schools throughout the United States and conducted research on the school’s per-child expenditures.
Awards & Achievements
In 1968, he won the National Book Award for ‘Death at a Young Age.’
“Rachel and Her Children” earned the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 1989.
In 1992, he received the “New England Book Award” for “Savage Inequalities.”
He was awarded the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship in 2005.
He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships and two fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Personal History and Legacy
He has also formed the non-profit organizations Cambridge Institute for Public Education and Education Action!
Currently, he and his dog “Sweetie Pie” reside in Byfield, Massachusetts on a farm.
Estimated Net Worth
Unknown.